The Portrait of A Lady: Word Meanings in Hindi & English Paragraph Wise Class 11 English

‘A Portrait of A Lady’ is a lesson in class 11 textbook ‘Hornbill’. A paragraph wise word meanings given here would help in learning well in understanding the lesson ‘A Portrait of A lady’. Hindi meanings are also given along with English meanings.

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The Portrait of A Lady Word Meanings

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Words	Meanings	Hindi Meanings
Wrinkled	lines and folds in skin due to old age	झुर्रियों वाला
Pretty	attractive and appealing	आकर्षक ओर मन को भाने  वाला
Best part	most of the part, more than half	आधे से ज्यादा हिस्सा
Sort of	type or typical of	तरह का
As if	as though	जैसे कि
Revolting	extremely unpleasant, disgusting, repulsive	घिनौना ओर घृणा उत्पन्न करने वाला
Absurd	silly and ridiculous, not sensible	बेतुका, बेढंगा ओर निरर्थक
Undignified	causing dishonour and disrespect	अशोभनीय
Terribly	very much	बहुत ज्यादा, खूब
Hobble	difficulty in walking	लंगड़ा  के या अटक के चलना
Spotless	pure and clean, without any marks	बेदाग
Stoop	shoulder bending forward	कंधों का आगे की ओर झुकना, निहुरना
Rosary	a string of beads used in counting prayers	जपमाला, सुमिरणी
Tell beads	to pray with rosary	माला जपना
Locks	the hair of head	बालों की लट
Puckered	with irregular lines and folds	सिकुड़ा ओर शिकन वाला चेहरा
Serenity	free from stress and emotions, calm and peaceful	शांत चित्त की अवस्था
Constantly	all the time	हमेशा, बराबर
Monotonous	never changing, dull and boring	एक जैसा ही
Bothered	worried	परेशान ओर चिंतित
Fetch	bring	लाना
Chorus	group singing	समूह गान
Send for	ask to come	बुलवाना
Distress	felt troubled, worried with mental pain	मन में अशान्ति के भाव, पीड़ा ओर  क्लेश
Lewd	obscene and offensive	अश्लील
Harlots	prostitute	वेश्या
Gentlefolk	people from respected or high-class families	कुलीन जन
Disapproval	expressing dislike	नापसंदगी, नकारना
Seclusion	avoiding contact with public.	एकांत
Resignation	willing to accept difficult and unpleasant situations that you cannot change	किस्मत के भरोसे
Rarely	not often, not a usual happening	कभी-कभार ही
Veritable	comparatively genuine and authentic, very much so real	सत्य ओर दृढ़
Bedlam	a very noisy and confusing scene	हंगामा ओर शोरगुल
Shoo	to make flee or run away	भगाना
Cherish	love the pleasant feeling of	मन में संजोना, अच्छा लगना
Imprint	mark	छाप, मोहर
Clasp	hold tightly in hand	कस कर पकड़ना
Frivolous	silly and not serious	तुच्छ ओर नजरंदाज करने लायक
Rebuke	reprimand, speak angrily and severely	डांट , झिड़क
Sagging	loosening due to sinking or bulging	झोल ओर स्थिलता
Dilapidated	old and in bad condition	टूटा फूटा, बर्बाद अवस्था में
Omit to	fail to do something, excluding	भूल कर छोड़ देना या  न कर पाना
Pallor	pale colour due to illness	चेहरे का पीलापन
Customary	conventional and ritual practices	पारंपरिक ओर रूढ़िगत प्रथाएँ ओर रिवाज
Shroud	cloth to wrap a dead body	कफन
Blaze	a bright flame of	लपट या रौशनी की चमक

A Portrait of A Lady: Paragraph Wise Word Meanings

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MY grandmother, like everybody’s grandmother, was an old woman. She had been old and wrinkled for the twenty years that I had known her. People said that she had once been young and pretty and had even had a husband, but that was hard to believe. My grandfather’s portrait hung above the mantelpiece in the drawing room. He wore big turban and loose-fitting clothes. His long, white beard covered the best part of his chest and he looked at least a hundred years old. He did not look the sort of person who would have a wife or children. He looked as if he could only have lots and lots of grandchildren. As for my grandmother being young and pretty, the thought was almost revolting. She often told us of the games she used to play as a child. That seemed quite absurd and undignified on her part and we treated it like the fables of the Prophets she used to tell us.

English Word/Phrase	Meaning in English	Meaning in Hindi
Old woman	An elderly woman	बुढ़िया
Wrinkled	Having small lines or folds on the skin, often due to age	झुर्रियाँ वाला
Portrait	A painting or photograph of a person, especially the face	चित्र
Mantelpiece	A shelf above a fireplace where decorative objects are placed	मंटलपीस
Turban	A long piece of cloth wrapped around the head as a head covering	सरपट
Loose-fitting clothes	Clothes that are not tight or form-fitting	ढीले कपड़े
Absurd	Extremely silly or foolish	बेतुका
Undignified	Not showing proper respect or seriousness	अयोग्य
Fables	Stories with a moral lesson, often involving animals	पौराणिक कथाएँ
Prophets	People who are believed to have been sent by God to teach people about the religion	नबी

She had always been short and fat and slightly bent. Her face was a criss-cross of wrinkles running from everywhere to everywhere. No, we were certain she had always been as we had known her. Old, so terribly old that she could not have grown older, and had stayed at the same age for twenty years. She could never have been pretty; but she was always beautiful. She hobbled about the house in spotless white with one hand resting on her waist to balance her stoop and the other telling the beads of her rosary. Her silver locks were scattered untidily over her pale, puckered face, and her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayer. Yes, she was beautiful. She was like the winter landscape in the mountains, an expanse of pure white serenity breathing peace and contentment.

English Word/Phrase	Meaning in English	Meaning in Hindi
Slightly bent	Not standing or sitting straight; slightly curved	थोड़ा मुड़ा हुआ
Criss-cross	A pattern of intersecting lines or marks	क्रिस-क्रॉस
Wrinkles	Small lines or folds on the skin, often due to age	झुर्रियाँ
Hobbled	Walked with difficulty or a limp	लंगड़ाते हुए चलना
Spotless	Completely clean and free from dirt or stains	निर्लेप
Rosary	A string of beads used in praying the rosary, a form of devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus	माला
Silver locks	Gray or white hair	चांदी जैसे बाल
Pale	Having a light color or lacking in color; not bright or intense	फीका
Puckered	Gathered or folded together closely	झुर्रियों से भरा हुआ
Inaudible	Unable to be heard	असुनी
Serenity	The state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled	शांति
Contentment	A state of happiness and satisfaction	संतोष

My grandmother and I were good friends. My parents left me with her when they went to live in the city and we were constantly together. She used to wake me up in the morning and get me ready for school. She said her morning prayer in a monotonous sing-song while she bathed and dressed me in the hope that I would listen and get to know it by heart; I listened because I loved her voice but never bothered to learn it. Then she would fetch my wooden slate which she had already washed and plastered with yellow chalk, a tiny earthen ink-pot and a red pen, tie them all in a bundle and hand it to me. After a breakfast of a thick, stale chapatti with a little butter and sugar spread on it, we went to school. She carried several stale chapattis with her for the village dogs.

English Word/Phrase	Meaning in English	Meaning in Hindi
Monotonous	Dull, tedious, and repetitious; lacking in variety and interest	एकमुखी
Sing-song	A way of speaking or singing with a rising and falling rhythm that is pleasant to listen to	गीत गाने की तरह
Bathed	Washed one’s body in a bathtub or shower	नहाना
Plastered	Cover or coat (a surface) with plaster or a similar material	प्लास्टर से ढकना
Slate	A flat piece of stone, typically rectangular or square, used for roofing or flooring	फर्श का पत्थर
Earthen	Made of clay or other earthenware material	मिट्टी का
Ink-pot	A small container for holding ink	मसाले का बरतन
Stale	No longer fresh and pleasant to eat or smell; having lost its original flavor or quality	बासी
Chapatti	A thin, unleavened flatbread made from wheat flour, common in Indian cuisine	चपाती
Butter	A pale yellow edible fatty substance made by churning cream and used as a spread or in cooking	मक्खन
Sugar	A sweet crystalline substance obtained from various plants, especially sugar cane and sugar beet, used as a sweetener	चीनी
Village	A group of houses and associated buildings, larger than a hamlet and smaller than a town, situated in a rural area	गाँव

My grandmother always went to school with me because the school was attached to the temple. The priest taught us the alphabet and the morning prayer. While the children sat in rows on either side of the verandah singing the alphabet or the prayer in a chorus, my grandmother sat inside reading the scriptures. When we had both finished, we would walk back together. This time the village dogs would meet us at the temple door. They followed us to our home growling and fighting with each other for the chapattis we threw to them.

English Word/Phrase	Meaning in English	Meaning in Hindi
Attached	Joined or fastened to something	जुड़ा हुआ
Temple	A building devoted to the worship, or regarded as the dwelling place, of a god or gods or other objects of religious reverence	मंदिर
Priest	A person who performs religious ceremonies and offers prayers to a deity or deities	पुजारी
Verandah	A roofed platform along the outside of a house, level with the ground floor	बरामदा
Chorus	A large group of singers, especially one that performs together with an orchestra or opera company	जनसमूह
Scriptures	Sacred writings or books; religious texts	धर्म ग्रंथ
Village	A group of houses and associated buildings, larger than a hamlet and smaller than a town, situated in a rural area	गाँव

When my parents were comfortably settled in the city, they sent for us. That was a turning-point in our friendship. Although we shared the same room, my grandmother no longer came to school with me. I used to go to an English school in a motor bus. There were no dogs in the streets and she took to feeding sparrows in the courtyard of our city house.

English Word/Phrase	Meaning in English	Meaning in Hindi
Comfortably settled	To have established oneself comfortably in a place	सुखद रूप से स्थापित होना
Turning-point	A time at which a decisive change in a situation occurs, especially one with beneficial results	बदलाव का समय
Friendship	A state of mutual trust and support between two people	मित्रता
Courtyard	A space open to the sky and surrounded by walls or buildings	आंगन
City house	A house located in a city	शहरी घर

As the years rolled by we saw less of each other. For some time she continued to wake me up and get me ready for school. When I came back she would ask me what the teacher had taught me. I would tell her English words and little things of western science and learning, the law of gravity, Archimedes’ Principle, the world being round, etc. This made her unhappy. She could not help me with my lessons. She did not believe in the things they taught at the English school and was distressed that there was no teaching about God and the scriptures. One day I announced that we were being given music lessons. She was very disturbed. To her music had lewd associations. It was the monopoly of harlots and beggars and not meant for gentlefolk. She said nothing but her silence meant disapproval. She rarely talked to me after that.

English Word/Phrase	Meaning in English	Meaning in Hindi
Rolled by	Passed gradually	धीरे-धीरे बीता
Western science	The scientific knowledge and discoveries made in the Western world	पश्चिमी विज्ञान
Law of gravity	A law stating that any two masses in the universe attract each other with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them	गुरुत्वाकर्षण का कानून
Archimedes’ Principle	A law of physics stating that the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces	आर्किमीडीज का सिद्धांत
Scriptures	Religious texts or books	धर्मग्रंथ
Disapproval	The feeling of not approving of or being against something or someone	असंतोष

When I went up to University, I was given a room of my own. The common link of friendship was snapped. My grandmother accepted her seclusion with resignation. She rarely left her spinning-wheel to talk to anyone. From sunrise to sunset she sat by her wheel spinning and reciting prayers. Only in the afternoon she relaxed for a while to feed the sparrows. While she sat in the verandah breaking the bread into little bits, hundreds of little birds collected round her creating a veritable bedlam of chirrupings. Some came and perched on her legs, others on her shoulders. Some even sat on her head. She smiled but never shooed them away. It used to be the happiest half hour of the day for her.

English Word/Phrase	Meaning	Hindi Translation
University	An institution of higher education and research	विश्वविद्यालय
Seclusion	The state of being private and away from other people	एकांतता
Spinning-wheel	A device used to spin fibers into threads or yarn	चरखी
Reciting	Saying something out loud, often from memory	रटना
Verandah	A roofed platform along the outside of a house	छज्जा
Bedlam	A scene of uproar and confusion	हल्ला बोल
Chirrupings	The high-pitched sound made by small birds	चहचहाना
Perched	Resting on a branch or other object	चढ़ा हुआ
Shooed	To make someone or something go away, usually by waving your hands or making a loud noise	चले जाने को कहना

When I decided to go abroad for further studies, I was sure my grandmother would be upset. I would be away for five years, and at her age one could never tell. But my grandmother could. She was not even sentimental. She came to leave me at the railway station but did not talk or show any emotion. Her lips moved in prayer, her mind was lost in prayer. Her fingers were busy telling the beads of her rosary. Silently she kissed my forehead, and when I left I cherished the moist imprint as perhaps the last sign of physical contact between us.

English Word/Phrase	Meaning	Hindi Translation
Abroad	In or to a foreign country or countries	विदेश
Sentimental	Showing or characterized by tender emotions, especially of fondness, romanticism, or nostalgia	भावनात्मक
Railway station	A place where trains regularly stop so that passengers can get on or off	रेलवे स्टेशन
Emotion	A strong feeling such as love or anger, or strong feelings in general	भावना
Prayer	A solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship	प्रार्थना
Rosary	A string of beads used for counting prayers in the Roman Catholic Church	माला
Cherished	Held dear; valued highly	अमूल्य
Imprint	A mark or depression made by pressure	छाप

But that was not so. After five years I came back home and was met by her at the station. She did not look a day older. She still had no time for words, and while she clasped me in her arms I could hear her reciting her prayers. Even on the first day of my arrival, her happiest moments were with her sparrows whom she fed longer and with frivolous rebukes.

English Word/Phrase	Meaning	Hindi Translation
Clasped	To hold tightly with arms, hands, or legs	गले लगाना
Reciting	Saying something out loud, often from memory	रटना
Frivolous	Not having any serious purpose or value	फुटील
Rebukes	Express sharp disapproval or criticism of (someone) because of their behavior or actions	डांट
Arrival	The act of reaching a destination or the time when someone or something arrives	आगमन

In the evening a change came over her. She did not pray. She collected the women of the neighbourhood, got an old drum and started to sing. For several hours she thumped the sagging skins of the dilapidated drum and sang of the home-coming of warriors. We had to persuade her to stop to avoid overstraining. That was the first time since I had known her that she did not pray.

English Word/Phrase	Meaning	Hindi Translation
Neighbourhood	A district or community within a town or city	पड़ोस
Dilapidated	In a state of disrepair or ruin as a result of age or neglect	टूटा-फूटा
Thumped	Hit (something) heavily and repeatedly	ठाप
Sagging	Hanging down or bending because of weight or pressure	झुका हुआ
Warriors	A brave or experienced soldier or fighter	योद्धा
Persuade	Cause (someone) to do something through reasoning or argument	राज़ी करना
Overstraining	To push someone or something too far beyond their limits, causing strain or damage	ज्यादा तनाव

The next morning she was taken ill. It was a mild fever and the doctor told us that it would go. But my grandmother thought differently. She told us that her end was near. She said that, since only a few hours before the close of the last chapter of her life she had omitted to pray, she was not going to waste any more time talking to us.

English Word/Phrase	Meaning	Hindi Translation
Taken ill	To become sick or unwell	बीमार हो जाना
Mild fever	A slight increase in body temperature often due to an infection	सामान्य बुखार
End	The final part of something	अंत
Near	Close in distance or time	निकट
Omitted	Left out or excluded	छोड़ देना
Waste	Use or expend carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose	बेकार करना

We protested. But she ignored our protests. She lay peacefully in bed praying and telling her beads. Even before we could suspect, her lips stopped moving and the rosary fell from her lifeless fingers. A peaceful pallor spread on her face and we knew that she was dead. We lifted her off the bed and, as is customary, laid her on the ground and covered her with a red shroud. After a few hours of mourning we left her alone to make arrangements for her funeral. In the evening we went to her room with a crude stretcher to take her to be cremated. The sun was setting and had lit her room and verandah with a blaze of golden light. We stopped half-way in the courtyard. All over the verandah and in her room right up to where she lay dead and stiff wrapped in the red shroud, thousands of sparrows sat scattered on the floor. There was no chirruping. We felt sorry for the birds and my mother fetched some bread for them. She broke it into little crumbs, the way my grandmother used to, and threw it to them. The sparrows took no notice of the bread. When we carried my grandmother’s corpse off, they flew away quietly. Next morning the sweeper swept the bread crumbs into the dustbin.

English Word/Phrase	Meaning	Hindi Translation
Protested	To express disagreement or disapproval	विरोध करना
Peacefully	In a calm and serene manner	शांतिपूर्ण
Praying	Communicating with a God or deity, often through spoken or silent words	प्रार्थना करना
Beads	Small, often spherical objects, usually strung together for counting or decorative purposes	मोती
Lifeless	Without life or consciousness	निर्जीव
Pallor	An unhealthy pale appearance	फीकापन
Funeral	A ceremony to honor and remember a deceased person	अंतिम संस्कार
Crude stretcher	A simple and rudimentary device used for carrying an injured or deceased person	असंगत बिछौना
Cremated	To burn a dead body into ashes, often as part of a funeral rite	शव दहन करना
Courtyard	An open space surrounded by walls or buildings, often located within a house or other structure	आंगन
Chirruping	The sound made by birds, often in a repetitive and melodious manner	चहचहाना
Dustbin	A container used for collecting and disposing of waste materials	रद्दी बक्सा

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“The Portrait of A lady”-Explanation of the Highlighted Words

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“The thought was almost revolting” means that the idea or concept being referred to is causing strong feelings of disgust or repulsion in the speaker. In this context, the speaker is suggesting that it is difficult for them to imagine their grandmother as having been young and pretty because she has always appeared old and wrinkled to them. The speaker finds it almost disgusting to think of their grandmother in a different way than the way they have always known her.

“an expanse of pure white serenity” is used to describe the beauty and peacefulness of the old woman who is being described. The phrase is a metaphor comparing the woman’s appearance to that of a serene winter landscape in the mountains, which is wide and open and covered in pure white snow. The description suggests that the old woman’s appearance is not conventionally attractive, but she possesses a beauty that is peaceful, serene, and calming, just like the winter landscape.

A “turning-point” is a critical moment or event that marks a significant change or shift in the direction or course of something. It can be a moment of realization or decision-making that alters the path or trajectory of a person, group, or situation. Turning-points can be positive or negative, and they often have long-term effects that influence future events and outcomes. In the context of the given sentence, the turning-point refers to the moment when the narrator’s parents sent for them, which caused a significant change in their friendship with their grandmother.

“accepted her seclusion with resignation” means that the grandmother had to spend a lot of time alone or away from other people, but she had come to terms with this situation and had learned to live with it without complaining. She had accepted her isolation as a part of her life, and although it may have been difficult for her, she had decided to make the best of the situation and not let it get her down. In other words, she had learned to be content with her seclusion and had accepted it as an unavoidable reality.

“a veritable bedlam of chirrupings” means that there were a lot of birds chirping loudly and excitedly, creating a chaotic and noisy environment. The word “veritable” means “genuine” or “real”, while “bedlam” refers to a state of uproar, confusion or chaos. The word “chirrupings” is used to describe the sounds that birds make when they chirp. So, the phrase is used to paint a picture of a very noisy and lively scene, where the birds were chirping so loudly and in such large numbers that it created a sense of chaos or bedlam.

“frivolous rebukes” refer to light-hearted or playful scolding that are not meant to be taken seriously. In the context of the given passage, it means that the grandmother was scolding her sparrows playfully and not in a harsh manner. It could be seen as a way for her to express her joy at her grandson’s return and to distract herself from the emotions she might be feeling.

“the sagging skins of the dilapidated drum”: “sagging skins” refers to the drum’s drumheads or membranes, which are usually made of animal skin or synthetic materials. These drumheads are stretched over the top and bottom of the drum’s body, creating a resonant chamber that amplifies the sound produced by striking the drum with sticks or hands.

The adjective “sagging” implies that the drumheads are old and worn out, causing them to hang down or droop because they are no longer taut. Similarly, “dilapidated” suggests that the drum is in a state of disrepair, indicating that it is old, damaged, or broken. Thus, the phrase “sagging skins of the dilapidated drum” paints a picture of an old, worn-out drum with loosely stretched drumheads that have lost their original tension and sound quality.

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